June 5, 1908] 



SCIENCE 



875 



ther, it is almost exclusively a demand for 

 men to whom the service means at least as 

 much as the compensation. But, as such, 

 it is unquestionably a vigorous and growing 

 demand. 



The most extensive employer of young 

 botanists in America is the United States 

 government, and we are very reliably in- 

 formed that the various bureaus of the 

 Department of Agriculture are in positive 

 need of more men adequately trained in 

 plant morphology and physiology than they 

 can find. Such training is usually sufii- 

 ciently well attained in two or, at most, 

 three years of graduate study. 



It is becoming increasingly difficult to 

 differentiate between botanists pure and 

 simple and special students of agriculture. 

 Yet we are loath to lose good men through 

 a mere juggling of terms, as botanist into 

 agronomist or something like, even though 

 the latter cashes in better. So, among 

 present-day opportunities in botany should 

 not be overlooked the one of being botanist 

 in fact only, with sedulous avoidance of a 

 name which suggests nothing of the large 

 cash values upon which this section of the 

 profession, under its many aliases, may 

 justly pride itself. 



For teachers of botany the market is still 

 brisk, though the upward tendency is not 

 perhaps so marked as in other lines of 

 demand. Doctors of philosophy in botany 

 are commanding beginning salaries in 

 teaching positions which average about 

 fifty per cent, more than those offered eight 

 years ago. These are in the main, of 

 course, positions of collegiate or equivalent 

 rank. It is for teachers of lesser training 

 that the demand has shown a barely per- 

 ceptible falling off. But this is more than 

 offset by the increasing demand for teach- 

 ers of agriculture for the rural high schools. 

 What botany in some quarters is threatened 

 with losing as a high school subject, agri- 



culture has already more than gained. 

 Since the question has become very largely 

 one of teaching much the same subject in 

 a more efficient way, we may expect that 

 botany, in this respect, will be a graceful 

 loser. 



In the Philippines a "practical" botanist 

 is wanted in every province, of which there 

 are more than thirty, to take in charge the 

 immensely important educational side of 

 the problem, especially from the standpoint 

 of the agricultural possibilities. No stereo- 

 typed problem here, nor meager compensa- 

 tion therewith ! 



The opportunities for amateur work in 

 connection with the academy should, per- 

 haps, receive a word of comment. Apart 

 from its large educational function, I take 

 it that the contributory work of the acad- 

 emy will confine itself, in the main, within 

 state boundaries. With such limitation, 

 and assuming the cooperation of a consid- 

 erable and favorably distributed number of 

 persons, an ecologically annotated geo- 

 graphic catalogue is perhaps the first task 

 which suggests itself. Such work for such 

 an organization has the peculiar virtue of 

 simplicity in its individual parts, absolute 

 necessity for extensive cooperation, and the 

 very large value of the final symposium. 

 The humblest sharer in the work may be 

 thoroughly satisfied that his part is quite 

 as important as almost any other part. 



Of intensive area work in ecology, 

 Cowles's work on the dunes and Gleason's 

 quite recent study of sand-flat areas of 

 the Illinois River forcefully suggest the 

 considerable number of similar, yet un- 

 touched and equally attractive, problems 

 within the state. 



The native prairie plants, made historic 

 by their striking floral aspects alone, re- 

 main undisturbed in but few and restricted 

 areas. The salvation of a strip of native 

 prairie large enough to reveal the original 



